Learning to Dance: Swaying
by JLo10131121
Summary: Post 3x18. Teetering was one take on that ending. This is another, a slow dance to start their love story. Regina doesn't know how to take a chance and learn how to dance. Robin teaches her to sway.


**Author's Note: **So the first fic I wrote, Teetering, was one way now I wanted the aftermath of that kiss to have gone. This is the other way. Since my bi-polar mind couldn't decide which to write, I decided to write both. This picks up right as Regina kisses him for the first time. This **may** be the first in a series of related one-shots, all self-contained, but connected, so we'll see.

She could barely hear his words for the roaring in her head and she could have sworn she felt the hammering of her heart, but that wasn't possible because her heart was in Zelena's possession. She watched his lips move and wondered how anyone could have the right to be so gorgeous. From the tips of his hair to his toes in his boots. And he was hers. Very little in her life had ever really been hers and no one else's.

"…I will get it back_,_" he finished determinedly.

A part of her whispered, _you already have it_.

Bracing herself for possible rejection, and cutting off his next statement, she kissed him, taking his breath, and giving hers. She pulled him close and felt his chest through the gloves, firm and strong, and she could have sworn she felt his heart leap to meet her. Lips lingered for a second before they broke apart and she looked into his eyes, almost daring him to reject her. She'd experienced it before, no difference, but it was different. Because it was him. Because she had changed. She wasn't the woman she used to be anymore and she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to that hateful place, where nothing was in her heart but darkness and death. Cold revenge. Where she existed but didn't truly live.

Henry had been her bright spot, and then he'd been taken from her through her actions, well-intentioned and selfless though they were. And she'd felt lost, adrift these past few weeks, not knowing where she fit, like a puzzle piece with too sharp an edge. And then she met _him. _

Her eyes challenged him, dared him, and Robin's expression gave way from surprise to desire and she found herself kissing him again, opened to him and his lips, fire racing along her body as he touched her through layers of fabric that seemed at once too many and not enough. She'd experienced desire before, passion, but not like this. With Daniel, it was innocent, love's first blush, and they'd not progressed to making love when her mother murdered him. Her first experience with Snow's father painful and uneventful, but she knew enough to pretend. Her furtive interludes with her black knights rough and sexually satisfying, but even then she'd felt something missing, a hollow spot inside that she'd pretended wasn't there, a heart-shaped piece with Daniel's name on it. Graham had been wonderful, satisfying and courteous and incredibly good in bed, but a kiss had never affected her the way this one had.

Heat had spread from the point of their lips down her throat out to her arms and fingertips, down her torso, tightening and sensitizing her breasts and pooled low and hot in her body. A small moan broke from her lips and they had to part or she'd faint and queens and specifically Regina didn't faint. She didn't want to though. Now that she'd tasted Robin, it was like she couldn't get enough and her lips burned for his. Other parts of her burned as well.

Robin panted alongside her and his hands trailed over her face, cupped her cheek, and lingered over her lower lip, which was still slick from their kiss. His thumb rubbed there and her lips parted involuntarily. "My lady…" he said reverently, looking between her eyes and her lips as if he couldn't decide.

And he couldn't. Robin had found that kiss surprising and incredible and fiery and even though this was no place for it, he wanted to take her to ground and make love to her, but this wasn't the place. Or the time. He'd never moved that fast before and he wouldn't start now, not when he sensed something between them that he'd not felt in ten years, since the first time he'd met Marian. It had been like this. They'd also bantered. She'd also been royalty and therefore forbidden to the likes of him. She'd tested him just as the woman in front of him had, but Marian hadn't had as many walls, not nearly.

But that did not deter Robin. He was a thief, after all, and very used to scaling high fortifications to reach his prize. And he knew, something inside told him instinctively, that this prize, this woman, would change his life.

"Milady, we should stop this here. The chill in the air is growing and I do not wish you to catch ill. Although Roland is safe with my men, you are not here in the elements."

All Regina heard was the rejection and a lump formed in her throat and she couldn't breath and she needed to get out of here before her damned eyes started tearing up and he saw. Because _no one_ saw her cry.

Robin felt her pull away from him mentally first, even though she was still in his arms and then physically. He tightened his grip on her, not allowing her to go.

"Let. Me. Go." Regina enunciated each word, hard and diamond bright.

Robin had to stop himself from wincing because that was the coldest he'd ever heard her voice with him, but it didn't stop him. "No, milady. You misunderstand. I wish to continue. I want to…but on my honor I will not make love to you here in the woods on a cold night after…." And here he shuddered slightly remembering the press of her lips, the softness and heat. "But I will not. I wish to take this slow, Regina. From the first, there was something about you…I can't place it, but something inside tells me I should treat you better than a quick tumble and by-your-leave. You're more to me than one night," he finished, his eyes earnest and his voice intent.

Regina's breath caught in her chest at his words and relief flooded her. He wasn't rejecting her. _She _knew. She knew exactly what he was feeling. Soulmates. True love. That knot in her throat grew bigger. But she couldn't tell him that. Because she couldn't take his choice away. She'd done that too many times in the past, ripping people's choices away from them and he was right. He was different and she wouldn't let fate inhibit this, whatever this was into developing naturally.

The knot passed and she was able to talk again. "Didn't know thieves had honor," she quipped, but there was no venom in her voice.

He smiled crookedly. "Milady, there are a great and varied many things you have yet to learn about me. But I hope you will give me the chance to teach you and have the patience to listen," he said softly, twining his fingers with hers, tugging her closer to press a soft kiss against her lips.

Why could she never catch her breath with this man? Regina tried to brace herself, but she couldn't. The way he made her feel… It was out of control and difficult to manage, and she couldn't _catch her breath. _

"May I have the pleasure of walking you home, Your Majesty?" Robin asked and once again with that one question, he turned her inside out. Because no one ever had. Graham had wanted to, but she'd never let him. Always independent. Never needing anyone or anything. But Regina thought Robin would fast become as essential as water or air. And a part of her was terrified of that, but a bigger part welcomed the change.

Because she couldn't talk, she nodded her head in assent. And that was how Regina found herself walking through town late at night with a thief, achingly aware that they were out in the open and afraid everyone could see. Because even though her heart was in Zelena's possession at that moment, it felt like it was on her sleeve for everyone to read her feelings and Regina hated being vulnerable that way.

But there was no one on the streets. And she was able to relax a measure and enjoy their walk. Because Robin _hadn't let go of her hand._ Not since they'd begun to walk from the woods. Every time she tried to pull away, he'd pull her hand up and nip it in warning. Startle her and a part of her liked it.

And as they walked, Robin made good on his promise and told her a bit about his life. Growing up in Locksley, the manor, his brash but much loved father.

"When did you meet Marian?" Regina asked as they came to the gates of her residence.

Robin made a negative sound in his throat. "That story, my lady, is for another night," he teased.

She was silent for the moments it took them to walk to her front door, the porch light on and basking them in a warm glow. She stepped up and unlocked her door, turning around to face him.

"So there'll be other nights." She said it like a statement, but inside it felt like a question.

Robin smiled, his dimples deepening, and joined her on the step, closing the distance between them. "Milady, there will be many, many other nights," he said intently, his eyes darkening with desire and his other hand reached up, traced her lower lip, dipped inside for one darkly hot, deliciously sweet moment. "More than we could count," he confirmed and then slanted his lips against hers, blotting out all thought, including the question that wanted to bubble up. She wanted to ask him to come inside.

When they parted, Robin's eyes met her hazy ones and he read the question there. It took every ounce of willpower to resist through the blood rushing through his ears and violently pounding in his overheated body, but he did.

"Good night, milady," he murmured as he raised his other hand, the hand that had still been entwined with hers, and pressed a chaste kiss to the back of her hand before releasing it and backing away. He turned around and began to walk, unsure of his will should he look into her eyes again, see the dazed desire that lingered there.

"Pick me up tomorrow at 8," she called as he reached her gate. She watched his head turn slightly, but not far enough that she could see his face.

"Dress for the woods, milady. Tomorrow at eight."

"I don't do the forest, thief," she challenged.

A slight smile turned up his lips. "A challenge then. Tomorrow, majesty," and he walked swiftly out of her sight. He knew what he wanted to do with her. Courting in this realm would be challenging, but he was a thief and adapted to change.

Regina watched him, unable to tear her eyes away, until she could no longer see him. Shaking her head, she lifted her hand to her face, the hand he'd so tenderly kissed, and nuzzled it. The back of her hand tingled, the way the rest of her still did from tonight's events. She hadn't stopped vibrating since she first kissed him in the forest. He was different from every man she had ever been with and they had only kissed. Regina looked forward to tomorrow's encounter, if only to find out what a thief did for a date. A smile curved her lips. She had no doubt it would be interesting and as she opened her door, she thought she would enjoy this dance they'd begun and even though normally she was all about fast and hasty, she thought she could find a new appreciation for slow and deliberate.


End file.
